Why is your company a great place to work in? Flipkart is the perfect place for people who want to build and create. We offer this flexibility and freedom in ample measure. Our entrepreneurial spirit combined with an open culture makes us a great place to work for top talent

What’s the most unique thing about your appraisal system? We pride ourselves on our system of meritocracy. The core of our review system is what and how. What refers to what did the employee do? What were the achievements and the impact of the employee. The ‘how,’ on the other hand, looks at the way the employee went about making the impact. The alignment of the ‘how’ to our core values is a critical part of the assessment. We also use a 360-degree feedback process as part of the performance review. This means that every employee’s review has inputs from self-review, peers, managers and the employee’s direct manager. This makes the feedback and consequent assessment balanced and fair

Your company’s mission and vision statement?How does it fit in with employee expectations? Flipkart is a young e-commerce company. In a very short time we have been able to grow to over R500 crores in terms of revenue. As a company we are driven by our values of ownership, innovation, responsiveness, honesty and team spirit. The values drive how we run the business and are integral to what we are as an organisation. We try to ensure that every employee we hire embarks on a growth trajectory that is aligned to our core values

How diverse is your workforce? Do you have expatriates on board? If yes, how many and at what level? Our workforce is diverse in an Indian context as we have people from all parts of the country. We don’t have any expatriates yet

How many women do you employ? We hire people based on their capabilities and organisational fit. While we do not have a set target for the number of women employed, at present 20% of our workforce is women

Do your employees have net access? Are there any curbs on online activities? Being an online company, the internet is essential to our business. Hence there are no curbs to access

Is your organisation woman-friendly? What are the special facilities provided to them? How does the organisation ensure their safety during late-night commute etc? Flipkart is an equal opportunity organisation. We believe in providing everyone with the same facilities and benefits such as paid medical insurance and life insurance. If the job requires late hours, we provide transport with the appropriate security measures

What kind of work space do you have — seating arrangements, computers, reception area, canteen and other facilities? We have a largely open workspace. The organisation doesn’t believe in closed door policies and everyone, including the senior management, work out of the same space as the rest of the team. This goes a long way in fostering an extremely fluid and approachable work environment.

The facilities we provide are sometimes limited by the availability of space. In most of our offices, we provide refreshment areas on each floor, relaxation hubs with games (football, carrom, boxing bags). We have a gymnasium and a cafeteria. In one of our offices, we even have a swimming pool

What reward system do you have in place for employees who are talented or the best performers? We are putting together a transparent, structured system that matches performance grades to rewards — thus offering employees a clear picture of their growth path within the organisation

What is the average age of your workforce? The average age of our workforce is around 27 years

What was the percentage salary hike in your organisation in 2012? We cannot reveal exact numbers, but our salary hikes are in line with industry standards and very competitive

About Aparna Ballakur:

Aparna Ballakur has a BE (electrical and electronics) degree from the University of Mysore. She also holds a certificate in executive leadership from Cornell University and a certificate in human resources for strategic advantage from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Before joining Flipkart, Ballakur was Vice President, human resources for Yahoo! India. She has also been director, human resources (India and China), at Adobe Systems. Ballakur, who has handled key positions in organisations like Netscout Systems, McAfee Software and Sasken Communication Technologies, leads the human resources function at Flipkart and partners with the leadership team on all strategic aspects of human resources in the company. She is part of the executive team and contributes to the overall management of the business.

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